Location Managers Guild International

LMGI COMPASS | Fall 2020 • 23 Stevie: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING IN LOCATIONS? HOW DID YOU START & WHAT DO YOU PRIMARILY WORK ON? PAUL KNAUS: I was born in Nebraska and my family moved around a lot while I was growing up. Even at a young age, I always wanted to work on movies in some capacity. I was always figuring out how the effects were created to make all the imaginary worlds and augment reality. I moved to Austin to go to the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, loved it and have never left. Going into college, I was originally a computer science major thinking that would help me get into a VFX or 3D animation program somewhere, but I couldn't deal with all the math classes that were required. I wanted to make stuff and the quickest way was to transfer to the RTF (Radio, Television, Film) program after my first semester. I loved it. After graduating, I immediately started interning for local production companies and a few films, including a small independent feature called Gretchen. The film was a labor of love involving past and current students, professors and teachers from the UT community. I answered a crew call for help in their production office, but was intrigued by the bigger issue they had securing locations. So location manager Jonathan Silberberg put me to work scouting with my point and shoot camera. I learned everything on that show from taking scout photos, negotiating contracts, making maps to pulling permits. The production had a film school mentality as we were all young and learning along the way, but it was a ton of fun and I learned how a real movie (I thought!) was made for a few $100k. After Gretchen wrapped, I heard that the University of Texas was experimenting with a film program called UTFI (The University of Texas Film Institute) in collaboration with Burnt Orange Productions that aimed to train students in the actual production of feature-length independent films. Each department from editorial to locations allocated current students as interns and university alumni as apprentices, providing UT students with the opportunity to work alongside industry professionals while gaining specialized hands-on experience in all aspects of filmmaking to enhance their existing film education. I was luckily selected to work as a location apprentice on Elvis & Anabelle and Homo Erectus. These Burnt Orange films were an eye-opening experience as I not only learned about how the Location Department functions in relation to the other departments on a film, but the nuts and bolts of how larger union productions with significantly bigger budgets operate. I have continued to work on many other projects ranging from five seasons on the TV series Friday Night Lights to many more movies, commercials and series. Today, I mainly work on TV series, but I still stay busy with commercials and movies in between long-term shows. Stevie: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE PRIMARY DRAW FOR FILMING IN & AROUND AUSTIN & ITS SURROUNDING AREAS IN GENERAL? WHAT KIND OF "LOOKS" ARE THERE? WHAT ARE YOUR PERSONAL FAVORITES & WHY? PK: I think the primary draw of Austin is the professionalism of its film crew combined with the laid-back atmosphere of the surrounding community. Location-wise, you have a wide variety of terrain in the production zone, from urban streets to small-town Anywhere, USA, or thick pine forests to rolling hills and rocky rivers. I personally love filming downtown, especially after hours and early mornings when the city sleeps and you just have to contend with the trash trucks and the odd squinty eye. Among the newly minted buildings towering above the old guard sits the historic granddaddy of them all—the Texas State Capitol. It's a beautiful sunset red granite building that began life in 1881 and has seen major fires and additions over the years. It is hard to beat the production value of passing through the massive oak doors with ornate brass hardware and walking onto the terrazzo floors under the rotunda dome with Pierce Brosnan as the first son of Texas in AMC's The Son. And by a stroke of luck, the whole city shut down from an ice storm on our scheduled filming day so we were the only folks in the building and were spared clearing the adoring public out of the frame of our period show. All photos by Paul Knaus/LMGI, except as noted. Photo courtesy of Paul Knaus/LMGI Stevie Nelson learns more about the Lone Star State from member Paul Knaus.

• Cover
• 40-43 Hollywood Forever
• 44-53 6 UNDERGROUND
• 54-59 GRIFFIN
• 62-63 Martini shot